


The Case of the Switched Letters

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Victorian, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff, Getting Together, Getting to Know Each Other, Love Confessions, M/M, Pride and Prejudice References, Shance Flower Exchange 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2019-05-07 20:39:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14679075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: "In Victorian times flowers were used to convey messages between people. If you want to express your love and devotion to someone but don’t want your identity to be known, the gardenia is the flower to give as a present.  It signifies a secret love or an untold love."Lance receives gardenias as well as some unfortunate news concerning his sister's own love life, though not in that order.





	The Case of the Switched Letters

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I am happy to present this as a gift to Vivien as part of the Shance Flower Exchange! I was a pinch hitter--though I do apologize for the additional delay caused by the fact that I am trash. 
> 
> The prompt was gardenia, which in Victorian times was used to denote a secret admiration, as well as a whole bunch of other things that will be brought up in the fic. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy! :)

"Good evening, Mr. McClain," a tall, broad man bowed low, kissing the back of the hand of his peer.

With a sneer, he promptly snatched his hand out of his grasp. "Yes, I suppose it  _was_  a rather nice evening, till you decided to make an appearance. Beside him, his friend gasped at his audacious quip. 

"Lance..." They whispered, elbowing him sharply. 

"It's not a bother, Mr. Garret," the man said, rising from his bow. "Mr. McClain is allowed his opinions, of course, no matter what they may be."

"I would be allowed them even without your permission, Mr. Shirogane," he nearly spat the name. "Though I suppose a man like you couldn't stand to see others carrying on without your meddling."

"I... what do you mean?"

Lance huffed, crossing his arms. "You know what you did, and the fact that you would even show your face here after the fact is abhorrent! I had merely wanted to spend a pleasant evening with my family and yet you're so bold as to ruin the atmosphere further!"

His face fell, confusion replaced with... embarrassment? "I... I apologize. I didn't know you'd react so negatively."

"Are you joking?" He shouted. Several other guests paused their dancing to look at the ruckus, nearly crashing into those less attentive dancers who kept at their exercise. "In what conceivable universe do you think I would view what you did with anything less than contempt? You, Mr. Takashi Shirogane, are an even bigger ass than I'd originally thought, if such a thing were possible. It'll be a pleasant day in town when you and Mr. Holt take a permanent leave. I'd quite enjoyed your absence, short as it was. Now, if you're done gloating, I'll be taking myself to a less repugnant room." Turning on his heel, Lance's coattails flared out behind him as he stomped away. 

He looked to Lance's friend, Hunk Garrett, who tended to act as the voice of reason whenever the pair were at odds. But, instead of the expected sheepish shrug, he was met with a harsh glare, the likes of which he'd never seen cross Hunk's kind visage. 

"You should be ashamed of yourself," Hunk shook his head. 

"I... I truly am not sure why Lance would be upset. If he wishes to reject me, then he could do so without attacking my character in such a way."

Hunk raised a brow. "Wait... reject you? For what?"

Glancing to the side, Shiro flushed. "You know what? It doesn't matter. He's made it clear what he thinks of me. I thought time had... tempered the awful storm that was our initial meeting. That we'd come to an understanding—a friendship. Had I known this would compromise that comfortable place, I wouldn't have left the flowers, no matter how rich the potential payoff was."

Hunk blinked, opened his mouth to speak, then paused. "Yeah... you lost me, Mr. Shirogane. Flowers? What does that have to do with anything?"

"It has everything to do with the situation!" He groaned, exasperated. "They're why Lance—I mean, Mr. McClain—are so upset, aren't they?"

"Why would he be upset by flowers? Lance loves flowers!"

"Perhaps not if they were from someone he apparently despises, despite our few outings that I'd interpreted as being quite pleasant and, if I could be so bold, promising."

"Promising? Of what?"

Shiro looked crestfallen; he'd tried going about this in an indirect way for a reason! Emotional expression wasn't his forte, especially since society often called for rather public declarations of intent for courtship. He would never have guessed that Lance would be so offended at the mere thought of them being together. "I had hoped..." He began, keeping his voice low so as not to be overheard. "To begin courting Mr. McClain."

Hunk's eyes widened, and he gaped openly. "You?" He nearly shouted, and Shiro brought his hands up and motioned for him to quiet down. He paid him no mind. "You? Takashi Shirogane, heir to the company that ruined Lance's family, wanted to date Lance? My best friend?"

"Well, it's not really a past tense thing, though perhaps it should be given his reaction to my proposal."

"Wait... this still doesn’t make much sense. When did you make your move? Didn't you just arrive before the ball?"

"Yes, but I had sent something ahead. Ms. Holt made a delivery."

Hunk's glare returned, as if remembering something. "Oh, she did alright."

He sighed, disappointed. "Well, it's no matter. I may as well head back to the city, then, since I'd only come here to see him. Can you tell him that I'm sorry for offending him?"

Hunk only nodded. With a small bow, Shiro turned and fled with as much poise as a man with a broken heart could muster.

He knew of course that he wasn't entitled to Lance's affections, and yet he'd truly thought he'd gone about things the proper way! Sure, they'd gotten off to a rocky start on meeting; they'd both been too proud and haughty to meet halfway when they'd been introduced at his best friend, Matt's insistence. But, Shiro had swallowed his pride to converse with the man who held nothing but contempt for him—or rather for the actions of his father, which Shiro had of course had no say in—as Matt had grown quite enamored with Lance's older cousin, Allura. 

He could understand the appeal—both cousins were quite handsome. The problem, though, was their family's utter lack of refinement. Allura managed to carry herself well, Lance, too, when he wasn't being intentionally antagonizing, but the rest of their family were absolutely hopeless. Even Allura's caretaker, Coran, who himself was quite the oddity that didn't fit well in their high society, couldn't manage to keep the younger cousins from making absolute fools of themselves in the dance. While Matt tried to woo Allura, and while Shiro kept Lance away from Allura so that Matt could further his efforts, the rest of their brood could be found drinking too much, speaking too loudly, dancing too close to their partners, and just making a mockery of the Holt's home and event. 

Despite these observations made ample times by Shiro to Matt, he still was intent on courting Allura. As a result, Shiro was forced to accompany them and Lance, who apparently never left Allura's side. It took them weeks of these gatherings for Lance to even say a kind word to him!

But, after he started, it didn't take too long for Shiro to realize that he'd misjudged Lance completely. Where before he'd found him to be too aggressive and competitive, stubborn and contemptuous, he found him to be filled with passion and love for family, things often not seen in the more elite social circles that Shiro and Matt frequented. It wasn't long before the pair could be seen taking walks even without the cover of Matt and Allura.

Lance had apologized for his own rudeness, saying he was foolish to blame Shiro for what his father had done, citing his pride as the reason for it. They'd agreed to start fresh, to be simply Shiro and Lance, not just the men tied to their family names. 

He learned that Lance loved to dance and read; that he knew five languages and was learning two more; that he hoped to travel the lands, known and unknown, even go to space, if he could; that though he was only Allura's cousin and not her brother, his parents had always compared himto her and so he'd grown up in her shadow and felt insecure as a result; and that he missed the flowers his mother and he used to tend to in their small town that he'd been forced to leave in order to try his hand at securing a profitable marriage after their family was sent into a downward spiral as a result of some of Shiro's father's less-than-legal business practices that ultimately punished his workers, and not himself.

Weren't flowers, then, the perfect way for him to express himself after their months of dancing around each other? Matt was having no luck with Allura, it seemed, and so the pair had returned to the city for him to raise his spirits, and Shiro reassured him he should pay no mind to Allura's apparent indifference. Shiro vowed, though, to send ahead several hefty bouquets of gardenias prior to his return, to be delivered by Matt's younger sister, Pidge, who had returned a few days earlier due to a budding friendship with Hunk and Lance, along with an anonymous letter describing his feelings in detail. 

What had gone wrong, then? Was Lance upset that Shiro had left without saying goodbye? Shiro genuinely just couldn't believe that Lance would be so cruel as to receive his confession and treat him as he had. 

As Shiro lamented, filling the nighttime air with lofty sighs, he barely noticed a small figure racing toward him until it was too late. 

"Shiro!" A loud voice exclaimed near his ear, sounding frustrated. 

He whirled toward the sound, spotting Pidge herself, weary and out of breath. 

"Are you alright?"

"I've been looking all over for you! We've got some major damage control to do!"

"What do you mean?"

"I... I may have fucked up a little bit."

"How?" He balked. "All you were to do was set up the flowers in his room and give him the letter."

"Right, and I did that! But... I gave him a letter first."

"'A letter'."

She nodded. 

"Not 'the letter'?"

She paused, then shook her head. 

"And what letter did you give him, then?"

She squirmed under his intense gaze. "I'm so sorry, I swear I don't know how it happened! But, you know how you sent me that letter a long time ago about how you convinced Matt to get over Allura, about how he was better off not courting her because of her family and station?" She took a deep breath. "Somehow, I got the papers mixed and gave that to Lance instead."

"I see. So now he thinks that I still find his family lowly."

"No, it's worse. See, get this—Allura really really likes Matt. And now she believes him to be indifferent. She's heartbroken. And Lance blames you for poisoning him away from her."

"She likes him? That can't be. She seemed the same from their first meeting to their last date."

"Apparently she really liked him from the beginning."

"I only said those harsh things to help him get over her... I don't find those two to be as unbearable as the rest."

"Yeah... that's probably not gonna help your case with Lance," she frowned. "He was so sad, then pissed. But, he was a bit busy comforting Allura to express his opinion about you."

"Well, he expressed it quite well at the party," Shiro sighed. "He hates me again—and he has every right to. This is the second time a Shirogane has ruined the happiness of his family."

"Well... then there's only one thing left to do!"

"Run away and change my name?" he replied flatly.

"No. You're not going to be your father, wronging people and doing nothing about it. You're going to make things right."

"And how can I do that?"

"You're going back to the city to pick up Matt—explain everything to him, then get him to buck up and officially ask Allura out the moment he gets here."

"Won't my leaving just make me look worse to Lance?"

"He's the type who needs time to cool off before you talk to him. If you approach him too soon, that damage won't be fixable. Trust me on this. I'll butter him up a bit before you return, and hopefully he'll be more receptive to you."

Sighing, he nodded. "What a waste of some lovely gardenias..."

She rolled her eyes. "Maybe it's for the best. This isn't the time for secrets and shyness! You two just need to communicate openly. I'll try and get the intel on whether or not he'll actually tolerate being in a room with you."

"My hero."

"What are you still doing here?" She smacked his arm. "I gave you a job—now go!"

 

* * *

 

"So..." Pidge began. "This is weird."

Lance and Hunk looked up at her from their position on the ground, surrounded by white flowers as if they'd rained down upon them. "I don't know what you mean," Lance said. 

"Yeah, this is quite normal," Hunk nodded. 

Pidge knew she'd set the bouquets in vases in Lance's room for him to find, not in... whatever this strange arrangement was supposed to be. "Doing some gardening?"

He giggled, rolling over to smell his flowers. "No... they were just in here! After all this stuff with Allura, it's nice to have something like this—it's romantic!"

"Is it?"

He gasped. "Of course it is! Don't you know the language of flowers?"

"I assume you're not talking about plants' abilities to communicate each other with chemical signals and—"

"Ooh! I just read a book that mentioned that!" Hunk said.

"No," Lance waved his hand. "None of that nerdy stuff! I'm talking about love, romance, and passion!" He caressed a bloom, seeming to coo over it. "These, my friends, are gardenias."

"Fascinating."

"To be given to someone with whom someone else is in love with—secretly!" He whispered the last word conspiratorially.

"Seems stupid. Why not just talk to them directly?"

"Where's the fun in that?"

"Could prevent a lot of miscommunication," she mused. 

"That kind of thing only happens in story books. This, Pidge, is real life! And in this real life, someone has a giant lovey-dovey adoration for me!" He cheered. "I never get suitors, and this one is going all out!"

"Never? What about that Plaxum girl?" Pidge asked. 

"Or Lotor?" Hunk pointed out

Lance bolted upright. "Oh my gosh! It's General Lotor, isn't it?"

"Ooh..." Hunk gasped. "It could be!"

"That guy?" Pidge frowned. "Shiro says that guy's trouble."

Hunk winced at the name, and Lance's look darkened. "Shiro's dead to me. I know you're friends with him, Pidge, but how can you forgive him so easily for what he did? Not just to Allura, but to your own brother! How could he even see the two of them together and not think they were meant to be? That guy wouldn't know romance if it bit him on the ass." Falling back, he waved his arms, pushing the flowers like a child pushes snow when making snow angels. "Not like Lotor, at least."

"Or literally any other person," Pidge pointed out. "I'm not defending Shiro, but... I think things will work out just fine for everyone, with time."

Lance frowned, shooting her with a confused look. "Right... well that's easy to say that when Matt's already moved on. Allura, on the other hand... Man... what am I even doing?" He sighed. "It's not right of me to get caught up with this secret admirer stuff when she's upset. I should go to her," he slowly rolled to his feet and moved toward the door.

"Wait!" Pidge exclaimed. Both Lance and Hunk eyed her sudden outburst with interest. "Er, sorry, volume. Before you go, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Pretend that you hadn't gotten that letter. Is there... anyone else that you might want to have gotten these flowers from?"

Lance balked, then flushed. "Are you insinuating that I like Shiro?"

"I'm not insinuating—"

"He does."

"Hunk!"

"What? He's all you talk about in your diary!"

"Oh my god, Hunk, have you no shame?"

"No, not really!"

Lance glared, then looked at Pidge. "But, none of that matters. Even if I hadn't received the letter, it wouldn't change the fact that he still did what he did. I would've just been blind to his actions, but he still would've been the same-old, awful person."

"Maybe he made a mistake."

"It's quite an awful mistake to have made, tearing apart a couple who surely cared for each other. I don't get it, Pidge."

"Yeah... I don't either."

"At this point, that boy will have to give one heck of an apology to get me to change my tune. In the meantime, though, I'll be holding out for whoever was the genius that gave me these flowers—but, in private, since Allura is more important right now." He sighed, "She'd be so happy for me, if she wasn't so upset. And someone as smart as her could definitely help me to deduce who it was." He looked back up at his friends. "Well, goodnight, guys! You can sleep here if you want, I don't own the house so I don't care—please don't tell Coran I said that!" He waved then left through the door, shutting it behind him.

There were a few beats of silence, and then Hunk gasped. "Oh my god! I finally get what Shiro was talking about!"

* * *

Lance beamed, but it paled in comparison to Allura's own radiant grin as she leaned against Matt—her fiancé. She proudly flashed her new rock while she retold the story of how they first met months before to her sister. They went on to discuss every date and "coincidental" meeting—which they'd recently found out had actually been quite planned out by the two schemers who had been desperate to see each other but not wanting to disobey propriety by being too eager. There were oohs and ahs, gasps of delight and surprised giggles as she talked, with Matt throwing in his own testimony as well. Lance had heard it all in the days since their engagement, but still he played his part and asked her favorite questions, more than happy to let Allura shine after the past week of dismal spirits. 

Feeling a bit cramped in the guest-filled home, Lance excused himself for a quick walk. He saw Pidge and Hunk dash out at his announcement but thought nothing of it. The pair had been rather odd since they'd discussed the gardenias, always giggling about something or another. Since he'd been busy consoling Allura, it hadn't been difficult for him to simply let them carry on as they saw fit, figuring they were running some experiment of sorts. 

Outside, he could finally breathe. A sweet, familiar scent clung to his nostrils, and he smiled, remembering those pure gardenias he'd been left. Following the scent, he continued past the gate and down the road, heading toward the forest so he could clear his head. He'd barely had a free moment to think about the flowers, let alone think on his own feelings as to who the giver might be, but the mere smell of them conjured an image of a familiar person his head. 

He growled at Shiro's kind, imaginary smile, erasing it from his mind. That ship had sailed, he reminded himself. Shiro still thought he and his family inferior, even after all their talks! He chuckled, wondering how Shiro would react when he found out that Matt saw through his slanderous lies and went forward with choosing Allura anyway. 

"Something funny?" the Shiro in his head asked him on hearing his laugh.

"Just thinking about your dumb face," the him in his head teased. "Bet you're disappointed about the proposal, huh?"

"A little bit," Shiro responded. "I had helped Matt practice his speech for about two hours beforehand and yet he still ended up just crying through it."

Lance came down from his mental reverie and realized that he was not, in fact, talking to a dream version of Shiro, but that he'd somehow stumbled upon the real Shiro out in the evening air. "Huh?" He responded smartly. 

"Sorry," he gave a fond smile. "Should've known you were a bit in your head there. Yeah, Matt was supposed to give a really long, romantic speech but instead he just said 'I love you please marry me' really quickly and cried. It was quite a good speech, seeing as I wrote it."

Lance scoffed. "And what do you know of romance to be writing love declarations?"

"Well, I did base it off of my own experiences."

"Reading romance novels doesn’t count."

"I just wrote as if it were to you."

Lance stared. "What?"

"Though I can't blame him for messing up; when you're around someone you love, it's hard to stick to the script. I had all these things I wanted to say but seeing you here, all I want to do is tell you how amazing I think you are."

Lance blushed, turning aside. "I must be dreaming—did you say that you loved me?"

"If this is a dream, I don't want to wake up."

"All this flattery..." He shook his head. "Doesn't make up for what you did!" he yelled. "I demand an apology!"

"I'm sorry."

"—and further—wait... huh?"

"You were right. What I did, how I meddled, how I wanted to be in control. It was wrong of me. I risked not just the happiness of Matt and Allura, but also that of all their friends and family. I will say my motivations were not selfish, I was simply trying to protect Matt, but that doesn't change the fact that I hurt people. And I'm sorry for doing that and for hurting you. You were justified in being angry with me, and I'll understand if you don't forgive me."

"Oh... well, that was uh, one heck of an apology."

"I was scared, maybe, so much was changing. There was them, and then there was you, and I was just... so confused about what could happen."

"What do you mean, 'me'?"

"I sent you the flowers."

"Oh."

"I've admired you for quite some time, but I never had the nerve to say anything. I knew you loved flowers and missed your gardening, so I thought to confess while also giving you something to remember home by. I had written a short poem that, on reading an hour ago, I realize was quite trite and pretentious, and was more for the sake of writing a poem than actually telling you how I felt, since I thought that was the way to go about it. And I know the flower thing was romantic and to your taste, but this time, I want to be clearer, so there's no room for confusion."

Lance waited, then nodded as if to say "go on". 

Shiro cleared his throat. "You are the first person I've met who's ever really seen me. So often, people are caught up in my title, in my wealth, in my name, that they don't even care to get to know me. You certainly didn't care to get to know me, at first, but somehow, you did, and when you did, you showed me parts of yourself that I find so incredible. I gave you gardenias simply because, well, that's the flower to use for a 'secret' love. But, I don't want my love for you to be a secret now, because I've seen the harm that hiding things can cause. But, I still want to give you these," he moved his arm from behind his back and revealed a bouquet of gardenias, even bigger than the ones that had been placed in his room. "Because the rest of its meanings are still so relevant. First, I trust you, wholeheartedly, because you see all of me and aren't afraid to correct me when I'm wrong. Second, you give me so much hope for the world, because you act as a beacon of light for anyone and everyone, which inspires me every day. Third, you—" He paused, stuffing his hand in his pocket and shuffling it around for a few seconds before removing a piece of paper. "It's, um, actually kind of wild how many meanings are associated with this flower. Forgive me, I seem to have forgotten them."

He laughed. "Messing up your speech, huh?"

"I guess I shouldn't tease Matt too much for it now, should I?"

"Probably not," Lance chuckled. 

"Maybe he was wise to go with his heart."

"This speech you're giving, it wouldn't happen to be the one Matt rehearsed, would it?"

"I did write it for you, so, yes."

"But his and Allura's relationship is so different from ours—nothing to do with gardenias, really."

"He did mention that. But when words of love came out of my pen they weren't meant for her, but for you."

"You are absolutely ridiculous," Lance shook his head. Stepping forward, he took the bouquet in one hand. After admiring them for a few seconds, smiling, he looked up at Shiro. "But I love you for it."

"You do?"

"Trust me, I'm just as surprised as you. To go from hating you for bashing my family name to loving you... well, ask Hunk about it—I wrote quite a bit in my diary on the matter," he chuckled. "But I'm not so proud as to ignore the fact that I let my assumptions of you get in the way of our friendship for quite some time. And, I still let word of mouth get in the way of how I felt for you even later."

"It was fair, since they were words from my mouth, as it were. But, I hope you know that I adore your family, all of them. All the faults I saw in them were merely my own privileged assumptions of a people who I didn't truly know. It doesn't excuse what I said, but I had only wanted to bolster Matt, though I could've done so without tearing down Allura."

"Yeah, I'm sure she'll give you plenty of shit for that during their marriage."

"Speaking of marriage..."

"Woah, now!" Lance nearly squeaked. "I can't upstage my own sister during her engagement party—though I am tempted... go on."

He laughed. "Well, gardenias are often used in wedding bouquets. I'm not asking you to marry me, yet, but I am asking if I may court you with the intention of marriage... someday."

"On one condition."

"What is it?"

"I get to court you too."

"I think that could be a mutually beneficial partnership," he smiled. 

"Also, no more secrets—unless they're fun surprises for me."

"Well, the flowers were supposed to be fun, but..."

"Okay, no more secrets when it comes to our feelings."

"I can do that."

"Good. I'm feeling hungry. Take me back to the party?"

Shiro held out his arm for Lance to latch onto. "It would be my pleasure, darling."

He giggled. "We'll work on endearments on the walk." Leaning up he pressed a chaste kiss to Shiro's cheek. "We've got a lot of time to get this thing just perfect."

Grinning, Shiro kissed the back of Lance's hand. "I think it already is."


End file.
